


be mine, valentine

by sleeponrooftops



Series: raising webhead: a parenting guide, attempted by the science boyfriends [43]
Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2013-07-24
Packaged: 2017-12-21 04:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeponrooftops/pseuds/sleeponrooftops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter really should have expected the worst advice possible when asking his dads about Valentine’s Day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	be mine, valentine

**Author's Note:**

> Notes —
> 
> i. Bit of a time-jump—nothing huge, just a year, but, as a reminder, Peter and Flash are fourteen, and Johnny is sixteen.

_One year later._

_February, 2024._

It’s nearly ten o’clock when there’s a knock on the door, and Tony turns his head, calling out, “Come in.”

 

Peter pushes the door open, stepping inside.  “Are you busy?” he asks, eyebrows lifting at their disheveled state, sheets half-assed around them, hair mussed, and the general lack of clothes.

 

“No, just—hang on a second,” Bruce says, pushing off Tony’s chest.  Peter nods and steps back out, closing the door, waiting until they call him back in.

 

When he sits on their bed, legs folded up underneath him, Ollie is in his lap, and Tony gives him a strange look.  Peter shrugs, curling his arms around his elephant.  “What, just because he sits on a shelf during the day doesn’t mean I don’t sleep with him at night.”

 

Bruce smiles widely before settling back against Tony and asking, “What’s on your mind?”

 

Peter sighs and looks down at Ollie, playing with his ears as he begins, “Well, Valentine’s Day is coming up, and I was thinking about maybe, I dunno—asking Gwen out on a date, but I have _no_ idea what we would do, so I was wondering what you guys usually do.”

 

“For Valentine’s Day?” Bruce asks, looking up at Tony, who’s fighting a grin.

 

“Yeah,” Peter says, lifting his gaze and rolling his eyes as he sees Tony, “Stop being an ass.”

 

“Don’t swear,” Bruce says, kicking his knee before he continues, “We, uh—we’ve never really done Valentine’s Day.”

 

“You’re useless,” Peter says, “Honestly.  How am I ever going to grow up normal?  You don’t do Valentine’s Day, you almost forgot about Christmas that year—”

 

“You can’t hold that against us, you didn’t even know until we told you a few years ago!” Tony exclaims, pretending to be put off, but Peter just keeps going as though he hadn’t talked.

 

“You’re raising me in a _skyscraper_ , you had me reading code before I even started school, you don’t do Easter or Saint Patrick’s Day or Fourth of July—”

 

“We took you to see fireworks that one time,” Bruce says, and Peter makes an obnoxious noise, flopping onto his back.

 

“Oh my _god_ , we went _one_ time, and then you forgot the next year, so I went with Johnny instead and have been for the past four years.”

 

“Well—whatever,” Tony retorts, making a face at him that Peter mimics.

 

“Can you help me _at all_?”

 

“How well do you get along?” Bruce asks, pinching Tony’s stomach when he starts to make a smartass remark.

 

“What do you mean?” Peter asks, turning his head to look at them.

 

“Well, do you talk a lot?  Do you mostly just—I don’t know, bat your eyelashes at each other?”

 

“You’re so _old_.”

 

“I resent that,” Bruce says, laughing when Peter groans and covers his face with Ollie.

 

“Hey!” Tony suddenly exclaims, smacking Bruce’s shoulder until he pinches him again.  “Peter, there’s a meteor shower on Valentine’s Day.”

 

“There is?” Peter asks hopefully, surfacing.

 

“Remember Reed was talking about it the other day?  You were there,” he adds in a slight whine when Bruce just looks at him.

 

It’s a moment before Bruce remembers, and he nods, looking back over at Peter.  “You could watch it from the top of the Tower,” he suggests, “Maybe get ice cream and hang out up there?”

 

“Dad, it’s February, I don’t think she wants to have ice cream or sit in the cold.”

 

“If you weren’t so far away, I’d tickle you,” Tony threatens, so Peter scoots farther away from him, smirking.  “I’ll build a thing,” he says, making an arc with his hand and then sighing dramatically, “Bruce, don’t be such a slacker.”  He smacks his hand and makes an arc again, whining until Bruce does it with him.

 

“Oh,” Peter says, laughing, “Okay, that could work.  Valentine’s Day is in a week.”

 

“PEER PRESSURE!” Tony shouts, and Peter rolls off the bed.

 

“WHY ARE YOU SO WEIRD?” he yells from the floor, and then Bruce is in hysterics.

 

The next day, Peter agonizes over what he’s going to wear that day so Gwen will think he looks handsome, and then he’s running seriously late, so he just throws on a pair of jeans, a thermal, and a sweatshirt, which means he ends up looking like he does most days, but she seems to like that, so he shrugs, speeds through the rest of his morning, and then panics when he gets to school.

 

Gwen, of course, looks beautiful, and Peter loses his panic in favor of a smile when she spots him, waving and smiling brightly.  He shoulders his backpack, books inside, and closes his locker, meeting her halfway.  “Hey,” he says.

 

“Hey Peter,” she says in return, stepping in close to him as they walk toward their first class.

 

They’re nearly there, just making small talk, when Peter finally gets up the nerve and says, “So, uhm—I was, uh—I was wondering if maybe—cos you know, Valentine’s Day—and it’s just—I mean, if you wanted—we could—or, uh—or just—”

 

“I’d love to,” Gwen stops him before he goes into panic mode and starts babbling about science like he tends to sometimes, “Text me what time?”  And then she’s gone, slipping into their classroom, and Peter stares after her, bewildered, before he nods to himself and follows her inside, grinning as he takes his seat behind her.

 

Flash drops into the seat next to him and starts laughing at his mad grin, so Peter shoots a web at his hand, sticking it to the desk, and Flash whines loudly while still laughing.  The rest of the day, Peter and Gwen are like glue, walking so close Flash starts making noises at them until Peter lifts a hand threateningly, and he runs in the opposite direction.  During lunch, Peter gets a text from Johnny, _well?  dude, i’ve been waiting to know all day, don’t leave me hanging._ He grins as he texts back, _she said yes, and my dads thought of something totally awesome._ Johnny’s response is instantaneous, and he laughs so hard, Flash steals his phone to see, _FUCKING YES.  DANCING FOR YOU, WEBHEAD._

The rest of the week is agonizing, but then, Valentine’s Day has finally crept up, and Peter can’t stop moving long enough to even think about attempting his homework, so he goes up into the lab and throws himself on the floor.  “I can’t do this,” he whines as Tony laughs softly at him, “I just want it to be tonight already.”

 

“How about this for a slice of awesome?” Tony says, turning in his chair to face him, “Dad and I are going out, so, as long as you promise to be good, the Tower’s yours.”

 

“No way, really?” Peter says, sitting up and looking over at Bruce for confirmation.  When Bruce nods, he lets out a whoop, pumping both fists in the air.

 

“What time are you getting her?” Bruce asks as Tony turns back to his work.

 

“Seven o’clock.  _Oh_ , I forgot to ask.”

 

“Leech,” Tony mutters.

 

“Lame, old man,” Peter counters, and Bruce whines at him when Tony clutches his heart and shouts in mock pain.

 

“Really?  Do you have to keep using both of those words in the same sentence?” Bruce says, glaring at Peter, who just smirks and shrugs.

 

“ _Anyway_ ,” Peter says, “I maybe said that I’d show her how awesome Thai food is.”

 

“You’re fourteen,” Bruce reminds him.

 

“Which is why I thought I’d just get takeaway, and we could have it on the roof while we watched the meteor shower, but I need money,” he says.

 

Peter looks over at Tony, who tries to turn to Bruce, but Bruce is also looking at him, so he just sighs and says, “There should be some cash in our room.”

 

“Thank you!” Peter sings as he leaps to his feet and heads for the door.

 

That night, when he swings to a drop on Gwen’s fire escape and knocks on her window, she rushes over to greet him, beaming.  She’s wearing red pants and a white lace blouse, and her hair is done in loose curls, tousled around her face, and Peter thinks she’s the most beautiful person he’s ever seen.  “Hi,” she says softly, reaching up to tuck a blonde strand behind her ear, “Let me just get my coat and let my parents know I’m leaving.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” Peter says, rocking back onto the balls of his feet.

 

He waits while she disappears, and, when she returns, she’s wearing a black peacoat and a red scarf, white gloves on her hands, the very picture of adorable.  “So,” she says, taking his offered hand so he can help her out of the window and onto the fire escape, “Are we traveling on foot or by web?”

 

“Well,” Peter says, smiling, “Considering you’ve never traveled by web, I think it would be a good night for a first.”

 

“Promise not to drop me?” she whispers, and Peter nods, holding out his arm.

 

Gwen carefully steps close to him, gasping when Peter tightens his arm around her, and he swallows before saying, very quietly, “You might want to hold on.”  When she does, Peter feels like he could fly even without his shooters.

 

The journey back to the Tower is a rush of cold air and gorgeous night sky, and, when they settle on the sidewalk outside the Tower, Gwen is breathless and laughing.  “That was amazing!” she exclaims, clapping her hands together.

 

“This way, my lady,” Peter says, opening the door, and Gwen giggles, stepping inside.  They take the elevator up to the top floor, and then Peter leads them to a small door at the back that opens to a winding staircase, opening up onto the roof.

 

“Oh, Peter,” Gwen gasps when they step out onto the roof.  A blanket is laid out with boxes of Thai takeaway spread in the middle, and white lights hang over them like a web.  Peter just shrugs and smiles, and Gwen turns to him, blushing furiously before she leans up on her toes and kisses him on the cheek.  When she steps back and goes over to the blanket, Peter is frozen for a moment, and then color rushes to his face, and he grins, going to join her.

 

They spend the night talking about everything and nothing at all, eating Thai, and later watching the meteor shower in awe.  Peter returns Gwen to her fire escape at ten o’clock, where her window is still open, and she puts a hand on the sill, turning and glancing inside before she faces him again.  “I had a lovely night, Peter,” she says, smiling softly, “Thank you.”

 

Peter shrugs one shoulder, scuffing a shoe, and they stand there in silence for a few moments before Peter steps forward, closing the distance between them.  “Gwen,” he starts to say, but then she tilts her head up, her blue eyes wide and hopeful.

 

“Peter,” she says in return when he doesn’t continue, and then he takes the plunge, one hand coming forward to grasp hers, tugging her closer until he can kiss her, his and her first ever.  There’s a second and a third, and even a fourth and a breath of a fifth before Gwen steps back, beaming.  “Goodnight, Peter,” she whispers before she carefully slips into her room, and Peter watches her, biting his lip when she waves and shuts the window.  He lets out a wild holler as he’s swinging through the night, and he detours to the Baxter Building, shooting his dads a text when he gets there that he’s going to be late because he needs to talk to Johnny, who does his dance in person this time.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m putting this up now because I’m going on vacation tomorrow, which means I won’t be taking my laptop with me and I won’t be using the internet on my phone because I’ll either be at the beach or at the amusement park. I’m only gone until Friday, but I can’t promise I’ll have reviews answered or another fic posted Friday night—it may end up being Saturday morning. I hope you guys enjoy this one, and I’ll be back in three days, so don’t forget to leave your thoughts!


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